Leonsis remains optimistic on Wizards purchase

Continuing the effort to record every last utterance Ted Leonsis makes about his potential purchase of the Wizards, here's the Caps owner's Monday morning appearance on the Junkies.

"I watched the Wizards game last night," he noted. "I was very pleased. It didn't go the team's way at the end, but boy, young kids, lots of energy, playing with heart and passion. We're in very productive conversations with the Pollin family and estate and I won't change my messaging: we already own 44 percent, we have lots of rights, the conversations are positive. And I'm expecting that sometime, hopefully soon, we'll be announced as the majority owners of the team, and we'll do our best to continue to build a team that everyone's proud of."

I hope that he noticed how the team absolutely mailed it in when they had the game won. This team plays the same way as the pre-trade team. That means BAD COACHING. This organization really F'ed up when they panicked last year and fired EJ.

I think Leonsis gets a free ride in this town from the media. But having said that, given the media's fawning over him and the current success of the Caps, the Pollin family will be reviled in this area for a long time if Leonsis gets screwed.

So far, I haven't seen anything to cause me to doubt Leonsis. He appears to be the real deal. I love what he has done for the Caps and all that he has said.

Hopefully, both sides will do some give and take and prevent the talks from breaking down. Leonsis doesn't seem like the kind of man who would overplay his hand. Usually, the fair price is somewhere in the middle.

I'm not sure what the Pollin family has to gain from demanding maximum value for the controlling block of this franchise. When dollar figures are so high, and the players are so wealthy, usually differences are more a matter of pride than money.

The bottom-line negotiating issue, I believe, is Abe Pollin's legacy -- isn't that priceless? If I were negotiating for Leonsis, I'd ask the Pollin family, "What would Abe do?" Then, I'd shut up and wait for Mrs. Pollin to answer. From what I've read about Abe Pollin, my guess is that Mrs. Pollin would make the right choice.